My goal is to inspire artists worldwide to express themselves and not be afraid to take on challenges that confront them. Creativity is contagious. I endeavor to find beauty in my community and exhibit it to others. In this sense, I can inspire others to create for themselves while at the same time being motivated to create as well.

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October’s Career Day speaker is Brian Morrow of Shark Pig. Shark Pig is a full service company/digital agency based in Los Angeles.

If you missed Brian’s intro a few weeks ago, click here to get filled in. You all asked great questions for Brian. Now here are the answers…

In your intro, you mentioned you have done “a million weird gigs.” How did you break free from the odd jobs and hone in on your craft of choice-in this case, videography? (that’s what you do, right?). Did you have to do the awkward balancing your day job with your passion until you were able to quit your day job and go full time with Shark Pig?

It was basically on accident. I thought that I was giving up on my dream of becoming a filmmaker because I quit working as a crew guy in film/TV, and started shooting wedding videos. Wedding videos aren’t really respected by that community, although it’s too bad because the people I met in the wedding biz are some of the most intrepid, creative, ambitious hustlers I know. It was my new connection to those people paired with my previous connections to the film world that opened a lot of doors for me. There was and still is a feeling of trying to balance my day job with my passion, though. I still want to do weird funny projects for free, but I also have to try and keep the lights on in this joint! I don’t think that ever really ends.

When was the moment you realized you were able to stop taking your day rates and start Shark Pig?

The only way to stop taking a certain kind of work in my opinion is to get too busy doing the new work. Luckily that happened to me pretty quickly after jumping into weddings. The funny and unexpected thing was that one of my wedding videos was playing in someone’s office in New York, and a creative director happened to see over her shoulder. That is what led to us getting our first advertising gig, which led to a lot of other opportunities.

It’s been a sad good long while since I’ve done a Career Day post. After Katie’s post, I took nearly a year off from the column.

I’ve recently been asked about if I’ll bring back the column. To be honest, I really missed it too. I love getting a peek into other creative people’s lives. Or maybe I’m just nosey. Either way, I’m bringing back Career Day!

Film maker. Day dreamer. Rapper. Creative director of Shark Pig, a full service production company/digital agency.

Haven’t heard of Shark Pig? Here’s a little background info for you…

I’ve done about a million weird gigs. I was a paper boy, a wood workers apprentice, a projectionist at a movie theater. I installed a telecommunications network at a housing project for Indian Monks. I worked at the flag ship Taco John’s in my home town – Cheyenne, Wyoming. I painted two building sized grain silos in the world’s weirdest town – Fairfield, Iowa. I was the head of Security on the movie Hesher. I got sent to Dubai as an air courier with one hour notice, same thing with Rome except that time I saw the Pope!

I’ve stood at the finish line of marathons and photographed thousands of runners drag their nearly broken bodies across. I’ve shot hundreds of graduations and hundreds of weddings. I’ve spliced fiber optic cable in cold tiny trailers and mounted giant satellite dishes on the top of radio towers. One time I was hired to pretend that I worked at this architectural design firm so it seemed like they had more employees during a big client meeting. I ended up editing a rap video and answering to the name “Brant.” It’s all in a days work.

I finally stopped taking day rates when I started a production company called Shark Pig. Now I just have one job, but it keeps me busier than ever. Our recent clients include: Levi’s, Purina, UGG, Midori, Audi, McDonalds, Pfizer, Lucky Magazine and Paul Mitchell to name drop a little. I’m currently producing a feature documentary on the life and work of Hal Ashby and trying to remind myself to read a comic book or play a video game from time to time.

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Do you have questions for Brian to answer about Shark Pig, his life before Shark Pig, his personal life, his favorite pair of pants, etc.? Send them all over (don’t worry; they’ll all be completely anonymous) for Brian to answer at hello@drifterandthegypsy.com by next Tuesday, October 21st. Brian will be on D&tG Thursday, October 30th to answer your questions and talk more about his work and his life! So get cracking on asking some questions!

November’s Career Day speaker is Katie Evans. Katie is a Brooklyn-based artist working in web, print, products, visual, and social media. In case you missed her introduction last week, read more about her info here.

Hi Drifter & the Gypsy readers. Here are the responses. Thanks for including me! – Katie

How has being a multifaceted artist benefited you?

I never planned on wearing a variety of hats but I’m so glad it happened. Since I work in so many channels (print, visual, digital, and social) I’m able to think and work 360 which makes me a more valuable asset on a team. Eventually I would like to just concentrate on perfecting one area but for now I’m still learning a lot so I’m keeping all doors open.

How do you enjoy working for big companies like Gap and Kate Spade? Do you feel like your identity still shines through when you design for companies other than your own?

I’ve worked for big and small teams but so far the smaller ones have been the most rewarding. Our team at Kate Spade was really small so I was able to work on a wide range of projects which helped me become multifaceted. I learned pretty quickly what path I wanted to take and which ones I wasn’t feeling. Gap is gigantic. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how big we are. The bonus of being big is that your teams are bigger so you can accomplish more faster and sometimes at a bigger scale. I think that’s pretty cool. They both have their positives and negatives.

I don’t feel like my identity shines through in my corporate work but that’s okay. It’s not about me, it’s about the brand. That’s another reason why I started freelancing so that I could produce work the way I wanted to and develop my own style.

I’m excited to announce November’s Career Day speaker is Katie Evans. I first discovered Katie through the illustrations she created for Bri’s advice column series, and then discovered she does MUCH more than make illustrations.

Here’s a bit about her…

Hey! My name is Katie Evans and I live in Brooklyn, New York. During the day I design the windows and store creative for Gap. On my nights and weekends I’m a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. My freelance clients are large and small and all over the world. I work on web, print, products, visual and social media. At Gap I’m responsible for coming up with the seasonal look and feel for the men’s, women’s, body and fit windows. I’ve also worked with the talented teams at Kate Spade New York, Kate Spade Saturday and West Elm. My career has taken me on a lot of paths and so far my favorite has been digital design. I look forward to your questions!

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Do you have questions for Katie to answer about her gig at Gap, her commercial work, her personal work, her personal life, etc.? Send them all over (don’t worry; they’ll all be completely anonymous) for Katie to answer at careerday@drifterandthegypsy.com by Friday, November 15th. Katie will be here next Tuesday, November 19th to answer your questions and talk more about her work and her life! So get cracking on asking some questions!

July’s Career Day speaker is from one of my favorite brands: Free People. I remember having discovered the Free People in middle school and falling in love with the brand. It was such a privilege to be able to connect with an employee of the brand and get a behind the scenes look at the Free People brand.

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Hi, I’m Sophie, the Creative Merchandising Director at Free People. I gave a little background on my duties in the previous post if you’re interested in seeing what my day-to-day entails. I’m excited to be back on The Drifter and the Gypsy today to answer some of the questions you all left for me. You had some really great inquiries, so let’s dive into it…

How did you first come aquatinted with the Free People brand?

I had seen Free People product on the ASOS website and knew about if from shopping at the U.S. Free People stores. I was a buyer in the fashion industry for a long time before I moved here, so I was aware of the brand for quite a while.

Have you always worked for the free people brand or did you work for other Urban Outfitters brands, such as Anthrpologie or Urban Outfitters?

Only Free People – it’s where my heart lies and I moved to the U.S. to work here.

First of all, I would like to day, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Free People. This is more of a personal question: Who are your favourite artist(s)?

Where did you go to college and what did you study to get into the field you are involved in now?

I went to the London College of Fashion and studied business and fashion management. It had specialist classes for merchandising, buying and marketing so it was a nice rounded experience to get a sense of the best career for me once I graduated.

How does the creative process work when creating photo shoots for Free People? ie. How does FP come up with the concept (who comes up with the concept?) and in general how long does it take for a shoot to come to fruition, from concept to release?

July’s Career Day speaker is Sophie, the Creative Merchandising Director at one of my favorite brands: Free People.

Here’s a bit about what Sophie does:

As the Creative Merchandising Director at Free People, my job is to work on all aspects of merchandising the Free People brand, bringing the product together in the most inspirational and brand appropriate way. From product featured in our catalogs to store trend concepts, styling inspiration, emails, and creating strong website imagery, merchandising means collaborating with everyone! We support each other and are passionate about the end product, whether it’s a new jacket lining, an idea for an email, the new color of a best-selling t-shirt, or a glamorous catalog shoot with a famous model – every aspect of my job inspires me to be here, loving what I do, each and every day.

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Hellooo dream job alert, right??

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Do you have questions for Sophie to answer about Free People, her personal life, etc.? Now it’s YOUR turn! Send them all over (don’t worry; they’ll all be completely anonymous) for Sophie to answer at careerday@drifterandthegypsy.com by Friday, June 21st. Sophie will be here next Monday, July 1st to answer your questions and talk more about her work and her life!

Here’s this month’s Career Day, featuring Jo Walker, editor of Frankie Magazine. I discovered Frankie when I first got into blogging a few years ago. Although based in Australia, they recently started selling Frankie in the US, which makes me very, very happy.

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Hi there, I’m Jo Walker – editor at Frankie Magazine in Australia. If you’ve not heard of us before, you can see a bit of what we do on our website, frankie.com.au, but my main job is overseeing the publication itself, and we publish six issues a year. A big cheer for everyone who sent through questions. I’ve tried to answer them as best I can – hopefully you’ll find the answers a bit inspiring, or at least entertaining!

What did you study in university-if you went-that helped you the most/is currently helpful to you in your career?

I started (and dropped out of) a few different degrees before ending up with a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English Lit, and then a Postgrad Diploma in Journalism. Most of the stuff I use day-to-day comes from postgrad. Feature writing, of course, and – even though I didn’t enjoy it as much at the time – news writing are really important. Oddly, though, when I’m writing a story, I think back to things from high school. My history teacher was a bit of a slavedriver at making us write essays really fast, which has been helpful. And also, when I was prepping for senior exams, my dad gave me a good piece of advice: RTQ. Which stands for ‘read the question’! It’s a useful thing to keep in mind when writing stories: is each sentence I write addressing the main point of the story? Is it answering the question? Whether that question is ‘who is this musician and why do I care?’, or ‘what is this product and what do I need to know about it?’, or ‘why did this historical thing happen and what does it mean today?’ RTQ!

In life we are often told to pick our battles, SO: at what point do you concede/put aside/toss a vision or a piece you and your team have worked on? When do you keep fighting?(more…)